Montana Gov. Schweitzer Slams ‘Racist’ Constituents

Remarks begin at the 7:57 mark

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer slammed some of his constituents, calling them “racist” and “redneck” in a speech delivered at the annual dinner for the Ohio Democratic Party, reports Montana Watchdog.

During the speech, Schweitzer described (beginning at the 7:57 mark in the video) the state’s Indian Education for All program:

But we’ve done something in Montana that has not been done anywhere else in America. In Montana, we are 93 percent white, and 7 percent Indian. Do the math, folks. That’s 100 percent. And so, it pains me to tell you this, but I’m just going to say this the way it is: We weren’t there with Cesar Chavez and the United Mine Workers with the Hispanics, because there were no Hispanics living in Montana. We didn’t sit down with the Little Rock Nine because there were no black people living in Montana. And we didn’t make that walk from Selma to Montgomery. All over Montana, you can walk into a bar, café, or even a school or courthouse and just listen for a while as people talk to each other for a while, and you will hear somebody before very long, say something outrageously racist about the people who have lived in Montana for 10,000 years. So, I decided, I can’t turn the heart of a 45-year-old redneck, but if we start earlier, if we start with a tender child…so, we passed Indian Education for All.